Regina turned to face the sink, rinsing off the two dinner plates that she and her son had just eaten from. It was getting close to seven, and she was mentally figuring how she would be able to do a few chores and still have time to spend with Henry before bed. As she placed the dishes in the dishwasher, hair falling slightly over her brown eyes, the sound of bare feet on the tile floor approaching from behind caught her attention.

"Henry," Regina began, standing up and turning to face her son. She noticed that his expression seemed troubled, and frowned, "is everything okay?"

The brunet boy shook his head and took a few steps towards his mother.

"Mom, I've been thinking a lot, and I was just wondering..." He hesitated, aware that his next words would cause his mother some pain. Shifting his weight on his feet and sighing, he finished his sentence. "I know it's only been half a year, and I know that you probably don't want to talk about it, but...do you think you'll ever be open to another...relationship?"

Several emotions crossed the face of the former evil queen all at once. Her eyes filled up with regret, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment, and her lips pursed in an effort to conceal it all from Henry. She broke eye contact, grabbing the dish rag and wiping down the counter in an effort to calm down.

"Why would you ask that, Henry?" Her tone was one of exasperation, but the brunet boy felt encouraged by the unmistakable tinge of curiosity behind her words.

"I was just wondering," he responded with an innocent smile. Regina raised an eyebrow, suspicious. Henry shrugged after a momentary pause, "I just...I don't want you to be alone forever. You or Emma. I just wanted to know if...if you'd be willing to give your happily ever after another chance."

Regina sighed, setting down the rag and turning to face her son. She ruffled his hair, and noticed at the back of her mind that he was nearly as tall as her. A sad smile crept onto her face as she looked into his dark brown eyes, and she nodded gently.

"Don't worry, Henry. I...I'll never forget Robin, but..." She sighed softly, "but, I have come to accept that giving up on the hope of the future is the only was to assure that I won't find happiness. If I ever did meet somebody, I wouldn't hide from the idea of...well, you get the picture."

Henry beamed, nodding in excitement. "Great! In that case, Operation: Coyote is a-go!"

Regina blinked a few times in bewilderment, "wait wait...what? What is coyote?"

"Coyote's mate for life," Henry explained, his mom's face turning white at the statement, "and this mission is all about finding you somebody to be with forever."

The brunette was beyond words, so she merely blinked at her son. Satisfied with the silence, Henry turned and headed out of the room, "I'm going to take a shower!"

Meanwhile, Regina plopped down on a chair at the kitchen table and shook her head. What had she begun?

Henry watched the blonde hair of his birth mother as she turned around several times, storming from one end of the room to the other. Her heels clacked loudly on the floor, and she seemed to be getting quite frustrated. The brunet boy bit off a piece of his pop tart as he watched, and frowned.

"Are you sure you don't need help?" He called out for the third time, but the stubborn blonde shook her head yet again, feeling around under the edge of the couch and huffing.

"I know I sat it somewhere in here!" She said aloud, but Henry wasn't sure if she was trying to convince him or herself. For at least twenty minutes now, the sheriff of Storybrooke had been seeking out the keys to the station. She'd checked all over the apartment twice now, but the keys were nowhere to be found.

"Just check your car, mom," Henry advised, and Emma groaned. She had refused to go out there, being so sure that she'd brought the keys in, but after half an hour of searching it seemed like the only place left to check.

"Fine," she consented, snatching her car keys from the counter and trudging out of the room. Henry shook his head, standing up and going to toss the snack wrapper into the trash can. His mom, while known to be quite obstinate from time to time, seemed to be operating at a higher frequency than usual that morning. She'd offered to drive him to school before work, and even though at this point he knew he'd be late no matter what, Emma still insisted that she wanted to take him. It wasn't a huge deal, considering his teacher was his grandma (Snow was back to teaching full-time since several months of nothing bad happening), but it was still quite stubborn, even for her.

The brunet boy turned at the sound of the door clicking shut, and couldn't restrain a slight smirk at the sight of his birth mother sulking towards him with her keys in her hand. She met his gaze, and her solemn expression cracked into an amused smile.

"Don't say a word!" She playfully warned.

The two of them grabbed their things and hurried to the car, hopping in and driving at a speed that only the sheriff herself could really get away with.

During the drive, Henry debated over asking his birth mom the same question he'd asked Regina two days before. He glanced over at her, noticing that her stubbornness wasn't the only thing unusual in her personality this morning. Her eyes betrayed a level of stress, and she looked like she'd hardly slept at all. Maybe today wasn't such a good day to bring up that subject…

"What is it?"

Henry shook his head quickly as he realized that his mom had caught him staring at her. Emma raised an eyebrow in question, obviously waiting for an answer. The brunet sighed, knowing that he couldn't get away with a lie even if he wanted to.

"I was just wondering…if you think you'll ever date again," Henry was a lot more to-the-point with Emma than with Regina, as he wasn't quite in the right mindset to beat around the bush. Besides, a straight question typically yields a straight answer.

Emma's jaw tightened, but overall the question didn't seem to surprise her. They were only a couple minutes away from the school now, and Henry was eager to hear her answer.

"Yeah."

Blinking a few times in surprise, the brown-haired boy's tone protested such a short response, "'yeah'?"

"I mean," Emma seemed to be struggling to elongate her response, "It's never too late to find love again? That's how I see it."

The yellow bug pulled up to the curb in front of the school, but Henry hesitated before he got out. He looked down at his backpack, and then over at his birth mom. They made eye contact, but she kept her expression steady and unreadable. Henry slowly nodded, and opened his door.

"Okay mom…thanks for the ride."

"Anytime kiddo!" She called as he slammed his door shut. She watched him walk away, even waving as he glanced back over his shoulder. Her hazel eyes followed him all the way to the front door, and when he disappeared inside the building, she put her car in gear and headed off towards the sheriff station.

Emma's phone buzzed from beside her, and she glanced down just long enough to read a text from David. It was two words, but they were the two words that she'd been waiting for all morning. These two words meant that everything was going to work, and that she could finally stop worrying. A tight, almost wry, smile crossed over the blonde woman's lips, and she turned the radio on for the remainder of the drive.

On her phone, just as the screen was about to turn black, the words were clearly legible:

"Gold's in."

Sorry for the late update! The rest of the story should be a bit quicker than this chapter was!

Anyway, I hope nobody is mad at me for yet another chapter without Emma and Regina interacting, but I promise it's coming!

How about that cliffhanger? There seems to be some drama afoot!

So, Review if you liked it! I appreciate every review so much, and everyone who reads this!

Thanks to everyone!